The Reunion
by RavenBlackwing
Summary: Remus Lupin is reunited with two of his long lost friends. But will he be able to keep them from killing one another?
1. Chapter 1

"_Visidos_," muttered Remus Lupin, upon hearing the clang of his doorbell. For his eyes only, the front door and the wall surrounding it became transparent. He recognized the woman standing on the other side, she was an old school friend of his, a woman he hadn't seen in years.

He had invited her back to England at Dumbledore's request to rally supporters.

Raven Blackwing was a striking looking, raven-haired witch, with steel grey eyes.  She was also, surprisingly small.  Remus wasn't an exceptionally tall wizard, but he stood at least a head and a half taller than Raven.  All the same, she had more than enough spirit to make up for her size.  At times it seemed to those who knew her that she was the only one who hadn't figured out that she was small.  At the moment, she was gazing up at the stars, and behind her, he could see her enormous horse tethered to his shed and emitting tiny sparks as it pawed the ground restlessly. "_Opaqus,_" he commanded and the door returned to its normal solid state as he opened it. 

"Ah, Raven!" he cried as though he hadn't known it was she on the other side of his door. "It's good to see you again."

Raven took one look at him and flung her arms around his chest, hugging him long and hard.

 "Remus," she said, finally pulling away. "It's been so long…" there was a silence as the estranged friends found themselves staring at each other. "You're looking well," she lied, and Remus was, quite frankly, shocked that she would make any attempt at pleasantries with him, especially, after their bitter parting so many years before.

"Raven my dear, you flatter me. I'm not looking well at all and I know it. But you!" he said taking a step back to look her over. "You haven't changed at all since I last saw you. You haven't aged a jot my dear." Raven looked at the ground, and Remus decided not to continue with the comparison to her mother he had been about to make.

Remus knew he had not fared nearly so well appearance-wise.  His hair was graying prematurely and his monthly transformations had left him with hard lines about his face.  Every time he looked in the mirror a tired, sickly man stared back at him.  He had always looked tired, even at school, but in the past years his exhaustion had become more pronounced in his solitude.

"Come," said Remus, taking her hand and pulling her inside. "I'll fix you a cup of tea shall I? Go on and settle down by the fire.  My accommodations are modest, but they do, for me at least." He led her into the den, Raven looked around. 

Indeed, most people wouldn't have used the word "modest" to describe Remus Lupin's home; "in shambles" may have seemed more appropriate. There were books everywhere, all stacked in neat little piles of course, but the worn down furniture was sagging under their weight. The sofa in the center of the room looked comfortable enough, but it was somewhat lopsided where the Repair Charms were beginning to wear off. Over in the corner there was a desk that was so cluttered with parchment and inkbottles that it made the rest of the room seem sparse and orderly.

Raven smiled.

"Remember Remus, that you are hosting someone with no home to speak of," she sighed happily. "This is wonderful, and I am grateful for your hospitality, though I see I'm not your only guest." 

A large, black, shaggy dog had jumped up off the moth-eaten couch and trotted over to sniff at the newcomer's robes. 

"Who is this?" Raven cooed as she bent to ruffle the fur on the dog's neck.  Remus hesitated, this dog was in fact, not a dog at all.  It was a wizard, an Animagus by the name of Sirius Black, who was wanted in the wizarding world for murder, and for allegedly being the right-hand man to the most powerful Dark wizard to live in over a century.  Black, however, was innocent.  Two years ago he had escaped from Azkaban, the dreaded wizarding prison, in hopes of catching the man who had framed him, Peter Pettigrew.  But Pettigrew had escaped, and, as a result, Voldemort was now returning to power. 

Raven, though, was unaware of Black's innocence or Pettigrew's continued existence, and Remus was hesitant to tell her the dog she was petting was her old 'friend', Sirius Black.

She and Sirius had also been friends at Hogwarts.  More then friends in fact, Sirius had even asked her to marry him just a couple months before he was arrested. She had taken the news of his betrayal rather hard.  Remus had a very strong suspicion that if he were to tell her who this dog was right now she might go and do something rash, like try to kill him.

For the moment, he decided it was better if he didn't tell her…just yet.

"This," he said, gesturing to the dog, "is Snuffles. He was a stray, wandering around Hogsmeade.  No one knew what to do with him so I took him in.  He keeps me company."  This wasn't entirely untrue.  Sirius did indeed keep him company, of the most valuable kind.  Since Sirius had arrived at his door at the beginning of the summer, his life had most definitely taken a turn for the better.  Remus patted Black's furry head and left the room to make the tea.

When he returned with a small tray, Raven and "Snuffles" were on the couch, the dog's head was resting in her lap and she was stroking it absentmindedly, as she stared into the fire.  Remus paused in the doorway, he knew Sirius was rather fond of Raven.  Ruefully, he recalled the fight they had once had over her as schoolboys.  Both had wanted to take her to the Christmas Ball.  Raven had gone with Peter Pettigrew to avoid pitting two friends against one another for her sake, but Remus knew all too well that she had always favored Sirius.  They were perfectly paired from the moment she had first taken a swing at him.

"Your tea Raven dear?" he asked, she started out of her reverie and accepted the cup - he remembered exactly how to fix it, loads of cream with just a pinch of sugar.  She moved over so that Remus could take a seat next to her.

"You have charmed that horse of yours properly haven't you?" he asked sipping his own tea (sugar, no cream) "The last thing I need is for the local Muggles to spot that beast in my yard."

"What? Forth?" responded Raven with mild indignation. "Of course I have.  You won't have any trouble from him.  He's tied up proper and charmed so no Muggle could see him even if he stepped on their toes.  Though," she added thoughtfully. "They'd probably feel it."  Her lips played into a mischievous smirk and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Why on earth did you ride him here anyway? You have to adhere to all those magical-flight-over-Muggle-habitation-zones laws, and you have to feed him.  There must be faster and less complicated ways of getting here."

Raven set down her tea.

"It's really no trouble.  Forth has never been to Hogwarts, and Apparating isn't nearly as exciting.  Besides, Hagrid'll be more than happy to care for him while we're there."

Remus smiled at his friend, Hagrid indeed would love to take care of that animal.  But he suspected that Raven simply didn't want to part with her beloved pet.

"Well you always did like to make an entrance, and what better way to do it than on a flying, fire horse?"

"You know me too well."

Remus laughed lightly, and sighed.

"I realize we have come upon dark times," he said quietly after a moment of silence.  "But I must admit, It is good to be reunited with the old crowd."

"Most of it anyway," Raven muttered darkly. "I suppose Mr. Sirius Black is thinking the same thing about now," her face hardened into an impassive mask.  The effect was rather frightening.  Remus had never seen her look so closed.  "Glad to be reunited with his master.  I bet he's Proud to have started Voldemort on this new rise to power."

At this, "Snuffles" lifted his head from her lap, and began to growl.  Remus scratched him behind the ears to calm him down.  Raven didn't seem to notice, she was staring angrily into the flames of the hearth again.  A dark and faraway look came over her.  The firelight threw her face into sharp contrast, and Remus suddenly noticed that Raven looked tired.

"Raven dear," he said gently, vanishing their empty cups with a flick of his wand. "You must be exhausted after your long ride."

Raven turned to him and smiled wanly.

"How did you guess?"

"I'll show you where you'll be sleeping until we get to Hogwarts."  He led her to the guestroom that had originally been arranged for Sirius, who, they had agreed, would be spending the evenings on the couch in the den. 

The guest bedroom was small; there was a small table with a tarnished mirror on the wall above it, and a bed by the window that, like most everything Remus owned, was shabby and rundown but, nonetheless, served its purpose.  However, to Raven Blackwing, the gatherer, used to sleeping on the ground or in trees, it was delightful, and at the very least, warm.  She smiled and squeezed Remus' hand.

"Remus," she whispered. "I feel like a queen."

Remus returned her smile.

"If you need anything just call me, I shall be up late tonight.  I have many letters to write.  Goodnight." Remus said closing the door and leaving his guest to prepare for bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus sat down at his desk and took up his quill and parchment.  He had the arduous task of finding and contacting all of the 'old crowd', the Rooks, the Lewigets, Fletcher, Figg…etc.  It was a shorter list than it had been once, thanks to Voldemort.  It chilled him to think it could get even shorter soon.

Dumbledore had given him specific instructions to relay.  It was up to him to convince them of the truth about Voldemort's return to power.  Dumbledore needed all the help he could get, especially since the Ministry of Magic had decided to turn a blind eye to any evidence of Voldemort's ascent.  Remus feared that some of the people he was writing would side with the Ministry and choose to pretend that nothing had happened, the Lewigets, especially.

When he had finished the last letter he sat back in his chair rubbing his face tiredly.

"_Venitelumos,_" he groaned through his hands, and the light flew from the lamp to the tip of his wand.  Remus lit his own way back to his room, but only after checking up on his guests.  As quietly as he could he opened the door a crack and lifted his wand to illuminate the room.  Raven was asleep, looking uncharacteristically serene and innocent, and there, curled up at her feet was Sirius's shaggy black form.  Remus frowned, that wasn't appropriate.  He would've shooed Snuffles off, but he didn't want to wake the sleeping 'queen', so he let the two of them be and crept off to his own bed.

*          *          *

Raven appeared to be having a bit of a lie in, and Remus wondered how she could be so exhausted.  He rose at his usual time despite the late night spent writing, to fix breakfast for his guests.  Sirius had been starved for so many years that it came as no surprise to Remus when the sound of padding feet came at the first clatter of cutlery. 

"Morning Snuffles," said Remus dryly. He looked up; Sirius had transformed back into a man. He hoped Raven was still very much asleep. Sirius' appearance had improved greatly since his escape from Azkaban.  His face had fleshed out and regained some of his old color.  Sirius had always been a thin man, but the emaciated state Azkaban had left him in had been sickening.  Remus was happy to see that he was filling out again.  Now that his hair was combed, cut, and pulled back in a ponytail, he looked less like a criminal and more like the handsome wizard he had once been.

"Sirius," Remus said cracking an egg on the edge of the pan and magicking the shell to the wastebasket.  "How comfortable do you think Raven would be if she knew who exactly slept on the foot of her bed last night?"

Sirius shrugged and tried not to smile.

"I was merely playing the part of the friendly dog, Moony.  No harm done.  You know I can't even talk to her until we figure out how to tell her the truth. I just…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely into the air. "I don't know."

Remus waved his wand and various cheeses, spices, hopped into the sizzling pan.

"I understand how you feel," he said.  "But it isn't proper, you are _not_ just a friendly dog Padfoot, you are a wizard."  Remus flipped the contents of the pan neatly as Sirius leaned on the counter, sniffing hungrily.  "And more importantly," Remus continued seriously. "You are a man. She is not."

Sirius looked up at him and grinned.

"Don't I know it Moony old pal," he said with a wink.  Remus frowned, it wasn't funny, and to his surprise Sirius dropped into a serious tone of voice. 

"I just wanted to be near her," he said quietly.

Remus decided to change the subject.

"You know, you aren't as small a dog as you think, Padfoot.  There's barely room on that bed for the two of you.  No, old friend - you sleep in the den - she gets the bed. Here," he said, serving up a fresh omelet.  "Transform back into Snuffles and eat up; Raven should be up soon." 

As he looked up, however, he saw that it was already too late. 

Raven had walked into the room just as he spoke.  Upon recognizing the dark-haired man in the kitchen, her eyes went wide, her hands dropped from where they had been arranging her hair and dove into her robes for her wand.  Remus, fortunately, was faster.

"_Expelliarmus_!" he shouted and her wand flew instantly into his outstretched hand.

Raven looked as though she had been struck across the face.

"You!" she breathed dangerously at Sirius.  "And you!" she hissed at Remus.  "How – H - how could you?"

"Raven!" Remus said firmly "This isn't what it seems…" 

Sirius was very silent.  Raven's voice, however, was steadily rising in volume.

"How could you Remus? I would have thought you of all people would be incapable of even looking at this… this… excuse for a man!" she spat. Sirius flinched visibly, but Raven continued, staring accusatorily at Remus. "You were there, Remus!  I was there!  We identified the bodies together, surely you remember, Lilly, James, and Peter's..." Raven seemed to choke on her own words.  "Have you forgotten?" she whispered.

"It was Peter, Raven." Sirius rasped.  At the sound of his voice her head snapped around and her grey eyes fixed upon him.  Remus saw an expression flash across Raven Blackwing's face that he had rarely seen upon it before: Fear.  He had never known Raven to show fear so abject and openly, and for Merlin's sake, he had seen her often enough when she had good reason to.

Sirius took a careful step forward his face open and pleading.  "Raven, please believe me. I convinced James to use Peter as secret keeper at the last moment. Not even Dumbledore knew."

"I saw them!" she spat at him. 

Raven was shaking so badly Remus thought she might collapse.  She made a grab for the back of the chair to support herself.  Sirius jerked involuntarily, as though to help her, but she recoiled from him so sharply she nearly fell over a kitchen stool.

"I saw their bodies, Sirius," she cried, his name came out choked as though just saying it pained her. "Charred and twisted. The sight still haunts me. Even now, when I close my eyes I can still see Lily's sightless eyes as if she were lying right in front of me in that awful room."

"Raven!" Remus said urgently he had gone very pale and was gripping the kitchen counter to keep from trembling. The memory of identifying his friend's bodies had stayed with him as well. "Raven, you have to listen. You have to know the truth! Sirius is innocent. Peter Pettigrew betrayed Lily and James. He's still alive Raven! He, James, and Sirius were all unregistered _Animagi_, Peter, as a rat - he's been hiding all these years."

Raven was even paler now; she was slowly backing into the wall.  Remus was reminded of her reaction when he had told her the circumstances of Voldemort's demise.  There was the same unmistakable, wild-eyed panic in her.  He turned helplessly to his friend.

"Sirius, she needs to see Dumbledore."  Sirius nodded as Remus pulled out his wand.  He grimaced as cords flew from the tip to bind and gag the woman soundly. Sirius reached out and caught her little body as she overbalanced and fell forward, but she twisted and writhed to get away from him.  Fortunately, Sirius had regained his strength.  Though a formidable fighter, Raven was no match for him tied up as she was.  Sirius gently carried her into the den and set her down on the couch.  Remus followed, walking straight to the hearth, he took a handful of purple powder from a jar in the mantel flung it into the fire and said quite calmly, "Dumbledore, if you please."  The flames turned purple and the ancient face of Albus Dumbledore appeared amidst them. 

"Dear me," he said, as his light blue eyes flicked from Remus to Sirius, who was holding Raven as still as was humanly possible upon the couch. "Found out prematurely has she?"

Upon seeing Dumbledore's face, Raven shrieked through the gag and began to writhe more fiercely to escape from Sirius' now tightening grip. 

"If you could talk to her Professor," Sirius grunted, pinning the struggling woman to her spot on the couch, he knew all to well the consequences of an angry Raven wild and loose and was determined to keep her still as much for her safety as his own.

"Of course.  I shall stop over immediately," said Dumbledore's head before disappearing with a 'pop'.


	3. Chapter 3

Three hours later, Remus was in the kitchen preparing more tea for his guests.

An unusually full house today, he mused as he tapped each of the cups with his wand.  He had gone from nearly twelve years of relative solitude to three guests in his den, two of whom were currently boarding with him. Perhaps these times weren't all bad.  If only Voldemort knew that his evil was bringing old friends back together – uniting wizards everywhere – and bringing out the best in his enemies… well he probably wouldn't care. But being reunited with people who cared for him certainly proved to Remus Lupin, a werewolf despised by wizard society, that there was hope.

Discovering Sirius' innocence had lifted a huge weight that Remus hadn't realized he'd been carrying.  His closest friends had been everything to him, and the night James and Lily died, he thought he had lost them all.  When Sirius had arrived at his door in June, all those years of solitude didn't seem to matter much anymore.  He now had someone to keep him company on the full moon.  He now had another wizard who did not flinch at sight of him, who would touch him.  It had been years since Remus had received any physical human contact. Sirius would shake his hand, clap him on the back, and even embrace him.  Remus was so used to locking his emotions away, deep inside himself, he hadn't realized how deprived of human contact he had been.  Now he had another friend back, from the best time of his life that seemed so long ago… No, these times couldn't be all bad, he had meant it last night, what he had told Raven, it _was_ good to be reunited with the old crowd.

Albus Dumbledore looked up and smiled as Remus carried the tray into the den.  Raven tried, politely, to refuse the tea.  But the old wizard wouldn't hear of it.  Her bonds and gag had been removed, but there were still red marks on her wrists from her desperate fighting.  Remus noticed that Sirius' eyes kept traveling to them, and his hands would twitch.  He could imagine how horrible it must be for him to not be able to reach out to her. 

The four of them had been talking for hours, relating the story of Sirius' innocence from the start.  It had been a painful but necessary ordeal, and Dumbledore's presence had made it much easier.  Remus didn't know how long any of them could've endured having to bind and gag her like that.

Raven had calmed down significantly, though she had become unusually quiet and withdrawn.

"So it was Peter," she whispered.  "All of this because of Peter, and Harry – Harry let him live?"

"Harry, takes very strongly after his father," Dumbledore said calmly.  "The resemblance is uncanny."

"And like James," Sirius added. "Harry is ridiculously noble," he smiled in spite of himself. "He said that he didn't think James would have wanted Remus and I to become murderers for Peter's sake."  There was a long silence, while the four of them wondered at the immense wisdom that had come from one so young.

"Impressive boy," Raven said at last.

"I quite agree with you Raven," said Dumbledore happily.  "Harry has, indeed, proved to be a very strong wizard, and not just in powers of magic." He took a last sip of his tea before standing to leave. "I would love to spend the rest of the evening catching up with all of you, but these days, I have many, increasingly pressing and grave matters to attend to.  I hope I can count on your assistance Miss Blackwing?"  Raven nodded dumbly.  "Splendid! Remus, your tea, as always, has been excellent.  Thank you for your hospitality.  I must bid you each adieu." With that he raised his wand and disappeared into thin air.

The three remaining wizards sat in silence for a long time.  Raven was staring at the tabletop, apparently lost in thought.  Sirius was staring at her and Remus – Remus decided that it was time he left these two alone.

 "Em," Remus muttered.  "I'm going out to run some errands in the village.  Food stuffs and what not." He looked from one to the other. "You two can stay here, just don't blow up the house."  Neither of them answered, he hadn't really expected them to.  Still, knowing them as well as he did, he figured it couldn't hurt to remind them not to destroy anything.  Remus found it somewhat eerie for the two of them to be so quiet.  Sirius inclined his head slightly, which Remus took for an okay.  Smiling slightly to himself, he left the house.   He was doing the polite thing of course.  There was a lot that needed to be said between Sirius and Raven, and he really had no right to listen in, but for the pure and simple sake of curiosity, he would've loved to be a fly on his own den wall right then.

*          *          *

The silence sat heavily in the room until the click of Remus' door signaled that he had left.   They listened to the crunch of his feet on the gravel path outside the house fading into the distance.  Raven continued to stare intently at the tabletop, as if she could find some way to sort out this torrent of information in the wood grain.  Sirius watched her.  He wanted to talk to her, but couldn't think of anything to say.  Anything that came up in his head seemed too stupid to say out loud.  What could he say anyway?  _"It's nice to see you again Raven, sorry I've been in Azkaban all this time…" _ He wasn't a moron, he knew that he couldn't simply start where they had left off.  They would probably have to rebuild their relationship from scratch. 

Raven was different from Remus, in more than the obvious respects.  Remus knew from personal experience, the kind of hell that Sirius had been through.  He knew what it was to be a social pariah and he had understood Sirius immediately.  Both of them were so overjoyed to be reunited with each other that they had no trouble rebuilding their relationship.  Sirius smiled to himself, after so many years of solitude and misery, just having Remus back was more than he had hoped for in all his time in Azkaban.

Raven was another matter.  He could tell she didn't trust him yet, and it hurt him deeply.  She believed he was innocent, of course, but only because of Dumbledore, and though she had heard the whole story, he doubted that she had truly accepted it yet.  Remus had told him of the horrific fight they'd had after his imprisonment.  That must've been something.

Remus had a vicious, though seldom seen temper, and hers, though more visible, was more than a match for it.  Sirius was, frankly, amazed that they hadn't managed to kill each other.  But then, he frowned, Raven had come back to Remus' immediately, without any apology.  She had forgiven Remus, why not himself? He watched as she clenched and unclenched her fist in thought, still staring at the table.  It was a habit he knew well, and he nearly smiled in spite of himself to witness it again.  It was a telltale sign that she was thinking hard.  Whenever Raven's mind was working overly hard her hands would practically illustrate her thought process as it happened.  Looking more closely, he noticed her hands were scarred and callused now.  From her work he supposed, but that was the only really noticeable difference.  It was maddening how little she had changed.

"I'm sorry, you know," he said quietly before he even realized he was speaking.  Raven's head snapped up, she stared at him, startled.

"For all you went through because of me.  I'm sorry," Sirius continued uncertainly.  There was an awkward silence that felt, to Sirius at least, rather long.  The two of them stared at each other across the table.  Her eyes searched his.  _No_, Sirius thought, _she has changed_.  He hadn't remembered her ever to be so closed. Raven was one of the most open people he had ever met, through no fault of her own.  Her eyes had always had a certain sparkle, a vivacity that he could never get enough of.  They told him instantly what was on her mind, though perhaps that was because he knew her so well.  But now- now they were darker, as he imagined his own eyes must be after Azkaban.  He supposed that even Raven Blackwing could not escape the horror that had altered them all.

"It wasn't really your fault."  Raven said at last in what she probably had meant to be an offhand voice.  "It was Peter," she said, mechanically as though reminding herself more than him.  Suddenly she stood up.  "I'm sorry Sirius," she said. "I can't do this right now, I can't…" she took a breath.  "I need to be a lone for a bit. Excuse me."  Raven darted out of the room before Sirius could even respond.

*          *          *

Raven had been up late that Halloween night.  For some odd reason, she'd been unable to sleep.  She sat in her kitchenette with a cup of tea.  The tea was cold, once prepared, Raven had realized that she didn't really want it, and making it had merely been something with which to occupy herself in her unexplained insomnia.  The only sound in the tiny apartment was the radio.  Raven couldn't stand to live in complete silence, so her radio was always on, even if it was tuned very low, as it was now.  Raven stared into her cup, watching the tiny tealeaves slowly settle to the bottom, and wishing sleep would find her, when she thought she heard something on the radio that caught her attention.  Raven could've sword she had heard the name "Potter".  Curious, she stood and walked over to the device to tune it louder.

_"…rrific attack at Godric's Hollow, Lily and James Potter, the young couple in hiding there, were both killed. However, the Potter's son, Harry, barely a year old has miraculously survived and the Dark Lord is believed defeated. I repeat, the Dark Lord is believed defeated at last- _**SLAM!**"

Raven hadn't meant to hit the radio so hard.  Unable to cope with what she had just heard, she had involuntarily brought her hand down upon the radio's power switch rather forcefully.  The total absence of sound now felt very obvious and oppressive to Raven.  Was she imagining things.  Was she awake.  The announcer couldn't have said what she thought he'd said… could he?__

The heavy silence was suddenly interrupted by a knock on her door.  Rashly forgetting to check to see who it was, Raven flew to the door and flung it open.  Remus Lupin stood on the other side looking pale and grim.

"Raven, I think you should come with me," he said quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

"There's been an attack,"  Remus said stoically.  "at Godric's Hollow."  Remus watched as the woman before him went white with shock and realization.  It was oddly comforting to see her so horrified, because it was a sign, at least that she hadn't been in on this as well.  He hadn't been quite sure what to expect when he arrived and knocked on her door.  She had been so close to Sirius, how could she not have known?  But when he saw her horrified expression, he put all his doubts aside – for the time being.

"No," she breathed staggering backwards and sinking to the floor.  Remus might've bent to help her, but he felt that if he didn't remain standing, he too might collapse onto the floor. "Raven - "

"No!" she cut him off.  "No it isn't true!  It can't be true!" she looked up at him with wild pleading in her eyes. "You're lying to me Remus. Stop playing! Nothing has happened! Lily and James are just fine and he…" she faltered "he hasn't done anything wrong.  He hasn't…He couldn't…" her voice trailed off.  Tears were streaming steadily down her face.  Remus choked back his own tears, striving to keep his hand steady he extended it to help Raven Up.

"Raven, I…" he searched for words.  The truth was that there wasn't much he could say to reassure her.  The world was upside-down.  People everywhere were celebrating, but they didn't understand.  They hadn't lost anything but their nightmares.  Last night had been a victory for the wizarding world, but for a precious few like himself, the victory was certainly a hollow one.

"I don't know what to tell you," he said rather stupidly.  Remus realized, of course, that this did nothing to comfort, but what was he supposed to say?  "I know exactly how you feel."  Now that was true.  Both of them, it seemed, were now very much alone in this world.  Their family and friends dead, or worse.  At least Raven still had at least one of her sisters.  He grimaced, his parents were dead and his closest friends were gone – he didn't know what to think of Raven, he wanted to trust her, but he just couldn't.  Remus could see her shuddering with grief, her tiny body curled into a ball.  She looked so pitifully small huddled there on the floor.  He sighed wearily. "I don't want to leave you here alone," he said, knowing from personal experience what grief and solitude could lead to.  "Come with me, Dumbledore just sent his summons, but I wanted to see you – to tell you before anyone else did."  Remus grabbed her wand from the kitchenette counter and forced it into her reluctant hands.  "I couldn't sleep tonight either."

Moments later they had Apparated at the hospital.  Remus clung unsteadily to Raven and she to him.  He was certain she would collapse if he let her go, and not entirely certain that he wouldn't do the same.

Witches and wizards stared as the two of them dragged themselves down the white, sterile corridors of St. Mungo's.  Some were whispering sadly to each other, others were trying not to let him see them staring.  Remus wished harshly that they would all drop dead.  He really didn't want to face people now.  He didn't want their pity, he didn't want to deal with anyone who didn't grasp what had been lost last night.

"Remus," came a familiar voice from behind him.  He turned to see Albus Dumbledore standing there.  He seemed aged and tired and his light blue eyes were devoid of their usual twinkle.  Remus saw Dumbledore look Raven over with the faintest flicker of apprehension.

*          *         *

Remus closed his eyes and shook his head as if to shake the memories from his mind.  The days following James and Lily's death had been some of the worst in his life.  The same day he had identified the Potters' bodies, he had gotten into a harrowing fight with Raven.  Perhaps he did suspect her, perhaps he was angry for having been suspected, or perhaps he was just misplacing his anger and despair on a likely target.  The latter seemed most probable in retrospect, but some horrible things had been said, and she had left the country that evening, not to speak to him again until only a few weeks ago.

The night after had also been the full moon, and one of his worst transformations ever.  Remus' insides grew cold at the thought of it.  Believing himself alone and betrayed he had ripped into himself with a fury unequaled by any other transformation in his life.  He had barely survived that night and a rather gruesome scar on his side bore testimony to his unthinkable grief.

Again Remus shook his head and began to concentrate with renewed effort on the weed filled garden before him.  In his enthusiasm for the task in moment, he ended up yanking a rather large Elwinger Creeper, which proceeded from his grasp, through the air, and onto the book Sirius was reading a few meters away.

Sirius' long, lanky form was sprawled, stomach down, on the grass.  With his chin propped on his hands, he looked like an overgrown Hogwarts student.  It was as if he had never really grown up, just gotten taller.

"I say Moony, is there something you want to talk to me about?"  Sirius called, dusting off his book good-naturedly.  "Because there are simpler ways to get my attention.  You could, for example, say: 'Padfoot I'd like to talk to you', and I'd listen.  This chucking the local flora in my face really isn't necessary."

Remus sighed.

"Alright, how's this?" he called back.  "Padfoot, I'd like my Creeper back, would you mind tossing it over here without any more of your insightful remarks?"  He held out his hand for the plant but Sirius merely grinned at him.

"No Creepers for you until I know what's troubling that overly full head of yours.  Out with it Moony, what's up?" Sirius obviously wasn't going to let him continue with business until the airborne perennial had been satisfactorily explained.  Sirius knew him too well, and he had an overprotective streak in him that had only intensified over the years.  Remus pulled a face, he was glad for his old friend's company, but years of solitude had left him accustomed to a certain amount of privacy.  He just wasn't used to talking everything out, he was used to quiet thinking, which, come to think of it, had always been his style.

Even at Hogwarts he had been the quiet, pensive one, comparatively.  At the moment he was reluctant to share his thoughts because he knew they wouldn't do anything to improve either of their moods, quite the opposite. Sirius' eyes had an unpleasant tendency to darken and close.  Any mention of Azkaban and he wound up looking like he was still there.  The effect was disturbing and Remus chose to avoid it as often as possible.

"Nothing is up, Padfoot.  It's just that gardening gets me thinking about a lot of different things.  I get lost in my thoughts," Remus said with a shrug. "Where's Raven?  She should be enjoying this beautiful weather with us."

Sirius frowned, but tossed back the Elwinger Creeper.

"Don't change the subject on me.  I'm on to you Moony, don't think you can hide whatever's troubling you from your old friend Padfoot,"  he threatened, but shrugged.  "I think Raven's inside doing the dishes or some other menial bit of cleaning," he sighed.  "She's avoiding me you know."  Sirius looked darkly at the back window.

Remus thought that this was probably true.  It didn't take a genius to figure it out.  Remus had never expected Raven to accept Sirius immediately he knew it would take time for her.  She and Sirius had been so close, she had steeled herself against his memory.  He imagined it must be rather like having some one back from the dead for her, but he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nonsense."

"Oh? I suppose she just never realized how much she enjoyed cleaning?"

"It's possible."

Sirius snorted.

"Give her time Padfoot," Remus sighed as he began to replant the Creeper.  "I'm sure she's just extra sensitive to your presence right now.  She'll come around." Sirius did not answer, he pretended to be immersed in whatever book he was reading, 

but Remus could see him looking, repeatedly, up at the house.


	5. Chapter 5

Life at Remus Lupin's house had never been so animated.  For, though Sirius and Raven were pointedly avoiding talking to each other, their naturally boisterous personalities were still making their mark.  At one point, Sirius must've gotten into the pantry and done some sort of confusing spell because the flour was mysteriously switched with the baking soda and the sugar swapped with the salt.  Sadly, this wasn't discovered until supper that evening, and, though no one could prove it had been him, Sirius was forced to do the dishes and certain wards were placed on the pantry.  Remus couldn't say that dinner had been a waste, (even if they ended up ordering out) he had caught Raven grinning at Sirius, like she used to.  Over the next few days, he actually walked into a room containing both of them at the same time, and found them talking to each other.

One night Remus woke up in the middle of the night.  The moon was waxing near full, which made it near impossible for him to sleep.  As he rolled over to go back to sleep he heard voices.  Remus' first instinct sent him grabbing for his wand, but then he heard laughter and realized that it was Raven and Sirius.  He wondered dully why on earth they were up so late as another peel of laughter broke through the murmur of their voices.  The laugh was unmistakably Raven's, and it was soon joined by Sirius' hardy chortle.  Remus smiled to himself.  So they were laughing together again, this was a good sign; anything to get them to quit acting so closed around each other.  All that foolishness had felt very wrong. 

Remus looked out his window.  Tomorrow night would be the full moon. Sirius needed his rest, and Remus would've gone and told him so when suddenly the sound of their voices stopped, and he decided he better not walk in on them just now.  Remus crawled back into bed and closed his eyes. A door slammed some where in the house and, in the silence that followed, he drifted off to sleep.

*          *          *

The next evening Sirius Black found himself standing in the den outside the kitchen door.  Taking what were supposed to be deep calming breaths he nerved himself to walk through the door.  Sirius felt as though his heart was attempting to break out of his chest.  He was sure that everyone in the house could hear it's frantic beating.  He was therefore surprised when he saw that Raven hadn't noticed him enter the kitchen.  She continued to prepare the meal as he watched.  His hand closed around the small band of metal in his pocket.  It felt surprisingly cool in his hot hand.  Sirius remembered with painful clarity, when it had been thrown back at him with the utmost hatred.  Unbidden Raven's face as it had been on the night of his capture hung before his mind's eye.  She had stood, stone still, endlessly searching him with her piercing steel-grey eyes.  He had watched, unable to speak, as her eyes filled slowly with hatred.  For hours she had stood, silent and unmoving until, finally, she wrenched the ring from her finger and flung it at him before sweeping out.  Sirius, already wracked with guilt and horror over James' death, felt his heart shatter with the sharp ping of the metal band on the stone.  The sound of it rolling and spinning to an ominously musical stop was etched into his mind.  He had heard it often during sleepless nights in Azkaban.

She seemed mild enough now, preparing their dinner because Remus was exhausted after the full moon and no one was about to let Sirius anywhere near a stove.  But Sirius didn't know if he could take the rejection if she refused.  He had spent hours preparing himself for this.  Debating whether or not to bring it up at all. In the end he had decided that he had wasted thirteen years in Azkaban and could not afford to lose any more.  Trying to ignore his mutinous heart, Sirius took a deep breath and spoke.

"Raven?" he practically croaked.  Her name stuck in his throat and he felt himself blushing like a schoolboy.  What was wrong with him?  He was Sirius Black for crying out loud!  Sirius Black the renowned womanizer, the smooth, the cool, the confidant... How come he could be collected and offhand any time except when it really mattered?  She looked up at the sound of her name, but her hands never stopped chopping and stirring.

"If you're offering to help, don't bother. I know better than to let you anywhere near the food, and I can handle perfectly well by myself thank you," she said with a smile that faded when he did not return it.  "Something wrong?" she asked, the constant motion of her hands slowing.  Far too late Sirius managed to force his face into an abrupt smile.  She wasn't satisfied.

"Sirius?" she asked again, hands stopped.  They hung frozen over the kitchen counter.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sirius was distantly glad she wasn't holding a knife. 

He couldn't bring himself to speak; he didn't know what to do.  He was nearly paralyzed with nerves.  With great effort he managed to say her name again, somewhat more steadily.  Raven frowned.

"What?" she asked, eyebrows raised.  That was it!  He couldn't do this!  Feeling as though he had turned red all the way down to his bones he shrugged mumbling something like "nevermind" and left the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

Oblivious to Sirius' recent encounter (and subsequent self-beratement) with Raven Remus Lupin found himself at the dinner table with his two guests.  He was slightly annoyed that they had let him sleep the whole day, and simultaneously amazed that the two of them had managed to keep things quiet enough so as not to wake him. He was grateful that they had at least awakened him for dinner, and he did, however, notice that his friends were being unusually quiet.

At first he assumed that he was only witnessing the residual effects of their being quiet all day, but that didn't make sense.  When these two had pent up energy they always ended up diffusing it as soon as was allowable, in the loudest possible way.  Remus remembered how absolutely no one in Gryffindor Tower could sleep on a night before a Quidditch match.  It was impossible with all the noise the team's beaters made.  Something was obviously up.  He glanced up at Raven who was absentmindedly tapping her fork in her spinach and looking curiously at Sirius.  Following her gaze he beheld Sirius, the side of his head propped on his fist pushing his food around the plate.  Sirius didn't look up; choosing instead to stare intently at his food as he arranged it rather arbitrarily.

There was a clang as Raven threw down her fork in frustration.  Her grey eyes were burning into Sirius with mild fury.  Remus could see a fight coming and decided to break the oppressive silence.

"Raven, this is delicious," he exclaimed . It really wasn't, in fact the chicken was slightly burned and not very well seasoned, as though the chef had been distracted while preparing it, which, Remus concluded looking from witch to wizard, was probably not too far off the mark.  However, seeing as neither of them had touched their food, they were in no position to argue his point. He cleared his throat.

"So," he ventured.  "I'm astounded you two managed to keep me from waking all day," he paused for a moment.  "Which one of you slipped me the sleeping potion?"

Neither of them responded.

Raven stared at Sirius.

Sirius stared at his plate.

Remus cleared his throat.

The clock on the mantle hammered out the seconds.

No one spoke.

Raven suddenly made an exasperated sort of noise and stood up with her plate, sweeping out through the kitchen door.  The two men still seated at the table heard the violent clatter of a plate being thrown into the sink and shattering, an exclamation of frustration and the slamming of the back door.  There was another ring of a dropped fork and Remus looked back at his friend.  Sirius had his head in his head in his hands, his fingers pushed roughly through his hair.

"What've you done now Padfoot?" Remus asked cautiously.

"Nothing," moaned Sirius through his fingers.  "That's half the problem."

"Oh?" Remus raised his eyebrows as Sirius pulled his head from his hands to look at him.  He tried not to smile at Sirius' hair, which was sticking up at odd angles.

"I tried to, em… re-propose to Raven earlier this evening," he managed. "It didn't quite work out the way I planned."

"She didn't say yes?"

"I didn't even ask her."

"What?" Remus was taken aback.  Sirius dropped his head back into his hands.

"I lost my nerve.  I couldn't even speak coherently, it was so pathetic Moony, you would have been proud."

"Now what exactly is that supposed to mean?"  Remus asked arching his eyebrows.  Sirius heaved a great sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"Only that you always told me I'd make a complete idiot out of myself for a girl one day.  I never believed you," he rubbed his eyes tiredly.  "It's just that I don't think I could stand it if she said no."

*          *          *

Raven walked as fast as she could.  She had no idea how much of these woods were actually Remus' property and, at the moment, she didn't care.  She was frustrated, and confused, and Merlin knows what!  She had ruined dinner, broken one of Remus' plates, and upset Sirius somehow, and right now she needed to be in her own element.  For thirteen years she had lived alone in the wilds, barely connected with the human world, perhaps she should just go back?  Since she'd arrived at Remus' her life had been one ridiculous emotional roller coaster.

"Snuffles the stray dog my eye Remus!" she yelled aloud to no one in particular.

_So the enormous dog on Remus' couch isn't a beloved pet, it's only her estranged fiancé the convicted murderer, Sirius Black. No big deal?_

_Yeah right._

She stopped, finally and banged her fist against a tree.  The action probably hurt her fist more than it did the tree, but Raven was not inclined to care, she clenched her fists tighter as red droplets formed on her knuckles.

"He's innocent, Raven," she cried aloud, shouting into the dark and silent foliage, overhead.  "It shouldn't matter! Everything is different!"

"Except for the fact that he still loves you."

Taken completely by surprise, Raven whirled around to face the speaker.  Sirius Black looked solemnly, and not a bit apprehensively, back at her.

He looked pale and tired.

She wondered that he had come up behind her so quietly.  Granted, she had been shouting, but years in the wilderness had taught her to pick up the sounds of approaching humans or animals.  One always had to be on the lookout for roaming…wait.

All at once what he had just said began to sink in, dumbfounded she stared open mouthed at this man who had just stepped out of the darkness.

"W-Wh-What?" she stammered.  Sirius made a face, as though something very painful was struggling to get out of his throat.

"Except he still…loves you," he managed at long last.

Raven felt as though she had just been slapped, and must've looked it.  She couldn't get her mouth, or, for that matter, any part of her to move.  She just stood there, stupidly, barely believing what she had just heard, and not sure what to make of it.

_He what? He still loved her? What was that supposed to mean?! Some sort of joke?? Was he trying to be funny?_

Sirius wasn't speaking; he seemed to be watching her very carefully with those deepened black eyes of his.  It was kind of unnerving; here in the darkness of the woods he looked a lot more like the escaped convict that still appeared from time to time in the Daily Prophet.

The silence stretched between them, Sirius seemed to be waiting for Raven's reaction, but she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out how she should react.

What on earth was she supposed to say to that?  Fourteen years of estrangement, and now _THIS_! Whatever _THIS_ was.

After James and Lily's deaths, Raven had found that the only way she could cope with events, was just to tell herself that Sirius was dead.  Dead like James, dead like Lily, dead like Caela, dead like her parents, dead like all the victims of Voldemort, those she knew and those she didn't.  The problem, of course, had been that Sirius was not dead.  He was very much alive and standing directly in front of her looking absolutely terrified.

When she had first seen Sirius standing in Remus' kitchen her first thought was that she was seeing a ghost.  In the moments that followed, the dam that she had erected in her mind, to keep all those painful memories at bay, broke.  She suddenly remembered that Sirius was indeed alive, and that he was a murderous traitor. Or not... _Merlin_!  She was so confused!  Next she had to be convinced of his innocence and now _THIS_!

What was _THIS_?

"I could kill you Sirius, I really could," Raven finally said in a low voice.  Sirius lowered his head. She closed her eyes.  "and then, other times," she faltered "…I just want to wrap my arms around you and hold you tight and never let go." Opening her eyes she saw him looking up at her again, hope reflected in those dark, fathomless eyes.  Raven felt her own eyes smarting and blinked.

_I do not want to cry_! 

"I don't know what to feel anymore, Sirius," she forced her voice to remain low and steady.  "I hate you.  I do, my head keeps telling me that I hate you.  But I know in my heart, that I love you ten times more."  A mutinous tear slipped down her face and she choked back a sob.  "Nothing has changed has it? All these years, so many years…and we're still exactly the same."

"I'm sorry" Sirius croaked, fishing vainly for something to say.  He seemed to want to reach out to her, but held himself back.  "I'll do whatever you want me to, Raven. I'll leave you alone and you will never have to see me again,"

She sucked in her breath.  _Not that_!

"…or" Sirius continued quickly.  "I will stay with you, and hold you and… regardless, I will love you every second of every day for the rest of my life.  I will do anything you ask of me.  Anything, anything!" he begged, she could tell he didn't know what else to say.  Still fighting back tears that wouldn't stay, Raven found herself equally at a loss for words.  For several long moments neither of them spoke, until Sirius suddenly shook his head angrily and dug furiously into his pocket, before stretching out his hand to her.

Raven's breath caught in her throat when she saw what lay on his upturned palm.  It was a ring, so cunningly contrived, that at first glance it appeared only a plain wrought band of silver, but upon closer inspection, the lithe form of a dragon was apparent.

It was the ring with which he had first proposed to her.  She could hardly believe he still had it.  Through all those years in Azkaban… Raven remembered, bitterly, how she had wrenched it off her hand and thrown it at him with all her anger and hatred on the night he was caught.

Sirius stood rigidly still had his hand held out to her, bracing himself and waiting for her reaction.

She knew she had to give him some sort of response.  Biting her lip with resolve she reached out to take the ring as it gleamed in the moonlight.  She barely heard Sirius' sigh of relief as she examined it.  There was a ding in it, probably where it had struck the prison cell wall.  Looking back up at him, she saw him take a step towards her, and in that instant she knew she couldn't face him.  Not yet.

Forgetting she still had the ring clutched tightly in her hand she turned and fled into wood.


	7. Chapter 7

Remus had placed a chair in the front hall, and sat there staring at the door, fighting madly against an urge to start pacing.  He didn't like to pace it felt too animalistic, too much like the wolf.  He knew his friends; one or the other was going to walk through that door any moment, having been fighting or… whatever in the woods all night, and they were going to need to talk.  No couple, in the whole of the history of the wizarding world ever had as much trouble sorting out their relationship as Sirius Black, and Raven Blackwing.  Before, at least, Remus had help.  He hadn't always been the only one keeping them from killing one another. He used to have help from Lily and Iris, and James, and Peter.  At times it seemed the whole of Gryffindor was concerned with their trials and tribulations. But now it was just Remus, and he had just about had enough.  Remus straightened suddenly in his chair as the door creaked open.

In stepped Sirius Black, tired and scratched, presumably from running through the woods.  Remus was across the room in seconds.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick," he demanded.  "One more minute and I would have assumed you caught." Sirius looked dejectedly up at him and seemed ready to apologize when it hit Remus exactly how badly things must've gone.  "What happened?" he asked. "Where's Raven?"

"She's not back yet?"

"No, I thought she was with you… erm…talking."

"I don't know where she is."

"You didn't find her?" he asked.

Sirius looked up at him, and Remus knew the answer to the question without being told.

"Oh I found her alright, and we did _talk_" Sirius growled through gritted teeth.  The poor man was beyond frustrated.  "But as soon as I gave her the ring she turned and ran off into the woods. I couldn't keep up with her." 

_No one could keep up with Raven, not even you Sirius_. Remus thought, the girl was fast, and it had been her saving grace many a time at Hogwarts.

"So she accepted the ring?" Remus probed.  "She took the ring from you right?"

Sirius shoved his hand through his hair and grimaced.

"She took the ring.  But she turned and ran into the woods Moony!  She wouldn't look at me, wouldn't speak to me, she just kept running.  Blimey!  I'd forgotten how fast she was."

"She's scared and confused, Sirius.  You've just waltzed right back into her life after making quite an exit.  Give her time."  Remus attempted to comfort his terribly upset companion.

Sirius snorted derisively.

"More time!  Fourteen years, Moony!  I've already been forced to waste fourteen years of my life.  I don't want to wait anymore," he made a violent gesture with his fist.  "Bloody difficult woman!" he growled.  "I'm going to bed."

Remus stepped back as Sirius stormed past him into the den and flopped dejectedly onto the couch.

"The same could be said of some others, Padfoot my friend," he muttered, staring thoughtfully at the man sprawled on his couch.  Sighing, Remus fixed himself a cup of tea in the kitchen and eased himself back into his chair.

Raven was going to have to come back eventually…

*          *          *

The pale gray of dawn was creeping across the grass when Raven returned to the house.  Easing the door open she checked to see if anyone was awake.  Remus was asleep in a chair in the front hall.  Gathering up the hem of her dew soaked robes she began to tip-toe past him.

"Stop right there, young lady."

It was Remus, spinning on the spot she turned to see him looking sternly up at her from his chair.  "You have some explaining to do my dear."

Raven glanced around nervously, noticing Sirius sound asleep on the couch.  Seeing her glance Remus waved his hand dismissively.

"He won't wake up.  You know that.  The poor man spent half the night in the woods chasing after _you_."

Raven hung her head and stared at the floor.  Remus shook his head and stood with a small sigh.  Pulling a leaf from her hair with one hand and taking her arm in the other, he led her into the kitchen.  Raven collapsed into the chair he pulled out for her, and sat in a sleep-deprived stupor, listening to Remus fixing tea.  She watched the lint dance in the early morning sunlight that was now streaming through the kitchen windows.  Remus eased into a chair across from her and handed her a steaming teacup.  He watched as she sniffed the steam and took a grateful sip.

"Sirius told me what happened," he said.

"Did he?" Raven asked dryly, and found herself fixed with his stern gray stare again.

"Just tell me you still have the ring, Raven."

"Of course I still have the ring, Remus," she said quietly, staring into her cup.

"Sirius was very upset last night."

Raven continued to stare into her tea, trying to avoid those maddeningly sensible eyes.

"I know it seems like he's trying to move very fast."  Remus went on, Raven looked up involuntarily.  Subtlety had never been something she or Sirius was very good at, but Remus was being very perceptive.  He nodded understandingly.  "You have to remember that he's lost thirteen years of his life to Azkaban.  He doesn't want to waste anymore time."  Remus leaned forward and held Raven's hand.  "I _know_ you two love each other, fiercely. You're both just awful at expressing it."

Raven started to say something but Remus put up a hand for her silence.

"My suggestion to you is keep the ring.  If you don't feel ready to wear it yet then don't."

"Remus-"

"And for crying out loud, quit with all this silence.  I expect both of you to resume conversation as normal by tomorrow morning.  It's depressing to have two of the loudest people I've ever met mope around my house all day.  Quit it!"

Raven nodded slowly, pushing back from the table and heading for the door.

"Oh and Raven?" Remus added.  "Change out of those robes and get some sleep.  You look terrible."

Raven smiled tiredly and nodded again, before turning and leaving the kitchen.  Pulling off her sodden robes she slipped into her warm bed, still fingering the tiny silver ring as she drifted off to sleep.

*          *          *


	8. Chapter 8

In spite of the noise of the celebration going on in his barn, Noah Abelfoot was able to hear the faint knock on the side door.  Standing up from the table where he had been eating and drinking with his staff, he picked his way through the party to the door and opened it, not even pausing to see who was on the other side.  He did not, however, suffer for his lack of caution.  The person on the other side of the door was the young witch, Raven Blackwing.  She shrank back in the shadows outside, but Noah could see that her eyes were red and swollen. She had been crying and he could guess why.  His staff considered this an occasion to celebrate, but it was a time of mourning for anyone who had known James and Lily Potter, or had thought they'd known even, Noah considered, looking Raven up and down, Sirius Black.

"I looked for you at the house, it was empty, so I came back here," she said quietly.

"Raven, come inside.  It's chilly out."  Noah opened the door a little wider.  Raven glanced absently at the celebrating witches and wizards, then back at Noah.

"I'm leaving," she said flatly.

"No, Raven, stay.  We can talk in my office if you like."

"No Noah, I mean I'm _leaving_.  I'm leaving Britain, I'm going far away from here and away from…" she broke off and looked away.

Noah knew Raven to be independent and, sometimes prideful, young witch, and he had no desire to see her break down into tears.  Taking her by the hand he skirted the crowd and brought her into his office.

Noah was a big man, not fat but sturdy, he had to be the biggest man Raven had known apart from Hagrid back at school.  He was in the business of caring for magical creatures, and specialized in animals that were too big to be house pets.  He tamed, and bred them, he boarded them for other witches and wizards who did not have suitable accommodations, and he picked up strays and so on.  His office was no more than a converted tack room with thin plank walls.  Most of the furniture was made of cleverly stacked crates and feedbags, papers covered nearly every surface, and all the drawers in the desk were pulled out and lined up by the wall.  There was a short period of time in the past, when it had been relatively organized.  Raven's first job out of Hogwarts had been with Noah.  She had always had a knack for dealing with magical creatures and the like, and so "Noah's Ark" as the farm was called, seemed the obvious place for her to look for work.  Noah, however, had taken one look at her diminutive stature and assigned her to office work, thinking she wouldn't be able to handle most of the creatures he kept.  Raven was far from a perfect secretary, but she was certainly better than none at all.  As time wore on, however, she found opportunities to prove her worth with the beasts.  Though not brutally strong, she was wiry and extremely quick.  And when three of his men were injured in a hippogriff accident, he had to let his secretary go to work in the paddocks.  Without her, however, the office descended into chaos once more.  Noah, however, soon discovered that while he had lost his secretary, he had gained an exceptional handler.  There were very few women on his staff, and even fewer that actually worked with some of the bigger creatures he kept.  Noah wasn't a misogynist or anything; he just didn't have a lot of women applying for the job, which was a pity, as a good number of the animals responded to females a lot better than males.  Raven was one such female.  She had a way with the animals that the other handlers could only marvel at.

Raven cleared a space on some stacked feedbags and sat down.

"Noah, I've got to get away from here," she said not looking up from the floor.  "Everywhere I go everybody looks at me as if I'm some sort of…criminal.  I went to my sister's," she paused to swallow. "But Stella wasn't home, and Adrian… Adrian wouldn't even let me into the house.  He had his wand out and…and he kept shouting for me to stay away from his family."  She looked up at him. "_His_ family? _My_ niece and _my_ nephew, _my_ only living sister!  They're all I have left, and I'm not even allowed in their house."

Noah surveyed Raven.  She couldn't have been much older than 22, but she had lived through more loss than he at three times her age.  Even if Voldemort was finally defeated, he had certainly exacted an awful toll. 

"I've come for the colt," Raven managed, composing herself somewhat.  "I've got what I had saved up to pay rent for the next few months, I won't be needing it anymore."

*          *          *

An ice-cold drop of rain struck Raven's face and startled her out of her reverie.  It was a moment before she remembered that she was en route to London to run some errands. She needed to get out of Remus' house for a while, away from Sirius, plus Forth needed the exercise.  A winged horse can only stay pent up in a wizard's yard for so long.  Forth was more than a pet to her, more even than a mode of transportation.  Forth was her companion, her only companion for many years as she had wandered all over the world.  She wasn't sure how he would adapt to stationary life.

Raven took a deep breath of the cool moist air.  She had felt so caged in Remus' house.  Out here with the familiar warmth and steadily beating wings of Forth beneath her, and the vastness of the sky before her, she felt better.

It was generally not too difficult to fly into London without being seen, on the rare days the sky was actually clear, all a witch or wizard had to do was perform a simple distraction charm, and no Muggles would be likely to look their way.  Providing, of course, that witch or wizard's mode of transportation didn't make an exceptional amount of noise, a concept that had never seemed to have gotten through to Sirius with that atrocious bike of his.

Raven, for her part, wasn't at all concerned.  In addition to the thick soupy clouds, the combination of Forth's fiery hooves and the rain was producing a nice cover of steam.  She dipped below the clouds briefly to get her bearings.  London wasn't far, but the clouds were thickening and it was starting to rain harder.  Raven didn't mind the rain so much, she was used to it, but she knew Sirius would throw a fit if she so much as caught a cold.  Wanting to avoid his overprotective attentions, she pulled her cloak closer about her.

At long last the familiar skyline of London came into view.  Forth's hooves clattered on the stone with a small shower of sparks, as they dropped perilously into the cobblestone street, and Raven Blackwing found herself back on Diagon Alley.

She hadn't seen the place for more than a decade, but it seemed to her that not a day had passed in the place.  It hadn't changed one bit in all that time.  Grinning, she urged Forth into a brisk walk.  Normally she would've been forced to dismount and lead the enormous horse through the dense crowd of busy shoppers.  It was, however, a slow day for wizard shopping and just starting to rain, as a result, most witches and wizards were hurrying for cover.

Raven's cloak was charmed, out of necessity, to be waterproof and exceptionally warm.  The late summer rain didn't bother her.  Pulling a piece of parchment from her robe and perused the list Remus had given her.  There were several medicinal potions, and some groceries that couldn't be gotten at the muggle store in the village.  Below these Remus had scrawled desperately, 

Something to keep Sirius occupied!

Sirius was never one to sit still and he was absolutely impossible when he was bored.  He had already read everything that he cared to in Remus' House, and was moving on to more disruptive pastimes, such as carpentry.  Remus was none to pleased with the "improvements" Sirius had begun to make on his furniture and walls.  Raven wasn't sure she knew of anything that would keep Sirius occupied for very long.  Besides, they only had to last another week or so.  Before long they would be packing their things and relocating to Hogwarts at Dumbledore's request.

*          *          *

"Harry!"

Something tall and freckled pelted into Mr. Harry Potter, nearly knocking him to the ground.  That tall freckled something just happened to be Harry's best friend Ron Weasley.

"Look at this Harry!" Ron pulled something out of his shirt that had been hanging on a chain around his neck and held out a thing that looked, to Harry, rather like a brass pennywhistle on a silver chain.  Harry, however, knew better than to take things in the wizarding world for what they appeared to be.

"So? It's a whistle" he said just to be difficult.

"Just a whistle? Harry, are you thick? It's a _call whistle_!"

"Oh," Harry said, wishing that Hermoine were there to tell him the complete history of the 'call whistle', unabridged, with an appendix on why Ron was so excited to have one.

"Bill got it for me, on one of his expeditions for Gringotts. Said its wicked useful."

"Good grief Weasley," came a sneering voice from behind them. "Did I hear that your brother works for the bank?"

Harry and Ron turned to see Draco Malfoy standing there, a self-satisfied smirk plastered onto his pale face. Crabbe and Goyle were just coming out of a nearby shop loaded down with boxes and bags.

"I suppose, being a _Weasley_ he's never actually been around money before.  He probably wanted to know what a Galleon looked like."

Ron looked about ready to hit Malfoy, but he never got the chance.  There was the sound of galloping hooves, a flash of black hair and flame, and he three of them were bowled over with much scraping of hands and elbows on the wet cobblestones.  Harry looked up to see what had knocked them over, his glasses slightly askew.  Towering over them was an enormous horse, and even higher, on its back sat a dark haired witch.  She seemed to be smiling down at him. Harry had just enough time to register that she was not unattractive.  He straightened his glasses, but she had dismounted and turned her attention to Malfoy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry young man, I just didn't see you three.  Are you hurt?" she bent over him and was tapping his scraped up hands with her wand.  Malfoy had gone rather pink.

"F-f-f-fine." He stammered jerking his arm from her grasp.  He gave Harry and Ron a dark look and ran off as fast as possible, with Crabbe and Goyle stumbling after him.  The witch watched them scamper away then turned to Harry and Ron.  To their surprise she grinned and winked at them before remounting her horse and cantering off.  Harry was wiping the mud off his glasses when he heard Ron snicker.

"Did you see that?" he asked.

"What? That horse? Its huge!"

"No, not that," Ron said grinning positively ear to ear.  "_Malfoy_! He was all pink when that witch helped him up.  I'm telling you Harry, I think he liked her!"

Harry found this hard to believe, Draco Malfoy did not seem the kind of boy prone to tender feelings, and he certainly hadn't seemed to friendly to this witch.

"Did you bump your head when you fell? Malfoy like someone? I don't think Malfoy likes anyone.  He was probably all bothered about getting his robes dirty."

"Yeah but he was blushing and stuttering. Harry, I think he _fancies_ her!"

Harry would have argued the point further but at that moment something large and very bushy dropped onto Ron's head.

"OW! What the? Gerroff me!" Ron shouted.

By now Harry had recognized the mass of ginger fur as Crookshanks, Hermoine's rather ornery pet cat.  He spun around and searched up and down the alleyway for a sign of her.

"Harry!" he heard a familiar voice shout, and sure enough, there was a well-tanned Hermoine running towards them, swinging a large empty basket.  Behind him, 

Harry could hear Ron, having recognized his assailant, calling Crookshanks a lot of names that his mother probably wouldn't approve of.  Hermoine plowed into Harry, nearly knocking him flat.  Harry was beginning to wonder if it was the new fashion in the wizarding world to express your excitement at seeing someone in force of bodily impact.  And if that was the case, he was dreading being reunited with Hagrid.

"Oh Harry, its so good to see you!" she exclaimed hugging him, she made a similar move towards Ron but found him holding Crookshanks at arms length between them.

"Here's your mad cat. Nearly took my head off he did"

"Oh Ron, he just likes you. Its his way of showing affection. I think its cute."

"I think its funny" said Harry.

"Harry likes me, but you don't see him jumping on my head and clawing my eyes out do you?"

"He wasn't trying to claw your eyes out he was saying 'hello'" Hermione huffed, taking Crookshanks from Ron and putting it back in its basket.  "My parents are at a dentists' convention here in London, we're staying in a muggle hotel, but they let me come here on my own today to get school supplies.  I'm so glad to get away from all those giant models of teeth and gums!  Ron you have mud on your face." 

Ron hurriedly scrubbed at his face with the sleeve of his robe.

"Its your dratted cat's fault, I don't want to know where he'd been walking before he jumped on me."

Hermoine would have replied but Harry interrupted.

"Ron, isn't this yours?" he said, holding up the whistle and chain he had just picked up.  "You must've dropped it when that witch's horse nearly trampled us." Harry handed the trinket over to Ron.

"What's that?"

"It's a call whistle, Bill got it for me."

"Really?" Hermione seemed impressed. "I hear those are really valuable."

Harry, not feeling like revealing his ignorance on the subject casually mentioned the circumstances that had just separated it from Ron's neck.

"Honestly!" Hermoine scolded "You've been in a fight with Malfoy already? We haven't even gotten on the train yet!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Ron cried defensively. "He started it."

*          *          *

"Very interesting, very good" Mr. Olivander muttered as he examined the materials before him, the lens he peered through eerily magnifying his pale, right eye. Raven waited anxiously for his approval.  In the poorly lit wand shop, the stacks of wand boxes blocked nearly all of the window and the sunlight came through in shafts that seemed to be made of dust rather than light and air.  On the counter was arrayed various pieces of wood and bits of hair and feathers and other things not as easily described.

"You say you gathered all of these things yourself?" the old man asked glancing up at her.

"Yes sir.  The heartstrings aren't as fresh as they could be but I had other business to attend to."

Mr. Olivander picked up a jar full of a murky liquid and things that looked rather like red spaghetti and examined it.

"Its nearly impossible to get absolutely fresh Dragon heartstrings these days," he murmered.  "What with the new protection laws and all. Though why a dragon would need ministry protection is beyond me.  These, however, seem well preserved enough, and in better condition than most I am supplied with" he paused setting the jar back on the table.  "I'll give you four thousand galleons for the lot" he declared removing his magnifying eyeglass and looking seriously at Raven.  Raven, for her part, was somewhat shocked.

"Four thousand galleons Mr. Olivander? That's-"

"A perfectly fair price for the merchandise before me."

"Yes, but _four_ thousand."

"I will not settle for a knut more if that's what you're driving at."

"No sir but- "

"My dear miss Blackwing, stop fighting your good fortune and just accept it.  I don't know what other wand makers paid for your materials, but I run an honest 

wand shop here.  There are woods in this collection that I rarely come by from my regular suppliers, four thousand galleons is what this lot is worth."  Olivander pulled a leather bound booklet from his vest and picked up a quill.  Raven managed to close her mouth and swallow as she watched him fill out and sign the account transfer slip.  Some distracted part of her mind wondered how he could see to write in the badly lit shop.

"Besides" said Olivander holding up the piece of parchment.  "I was once in your line of work. I can imagine what you must've gone through to obtain such fine materials.  You've earned every galleon Miss Blackwing." Raven took the slip and examined it in disbelief.

"Thank you sir" she managed, but there was no reply, the old man had disappeared into the mazes of boxes in the back of the shop with his newly purchased materials.  Raven rolled up the now bare cloth they had been lying on, and stepped out of the shop.

It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust.  Even though threatening rain clouds had again obscured the sun, it seemed blindingly bright compared to the darkness of the wand shop.  

** Well how am I doing? I've got a lot more, its just become a little obsolete now that the fifth book has come out. You see, in my impatience, I had partially written my own fifth book, to keep me occupied. But I never posted most of it. Would you like me to? Take it as just sort of an alternate universe… or something.


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